Melvin Jones III of Springfield held without bail after denying domestic assault charge

SPRINGFIELD - Melvin Jones III pleaded not guilty to two counts of domestic assault and battery in Hampden Superior Court on Thursday, with a collective $5,000 in bail revoked despite an argument by his defense lawyer that prosecutors missed that window.

Jones will be held until a drug trafficking case against him is scheduled to go trial trial in Hampden Superior Court on Oct. 23.

However, he was back in shackles and back in the public eye during his arraignment in Hampden Superior Court on Thursday on domestic assault charges - one count revived from the 2011 arrest and a second from a fresh arrest on July 26 at the woman's Forest Park home.

Jones - who rocketed to local notoriety after a bystander videotaped a police beating during a traffic stop in 2009 that ultimately led to a criminal case and 18 months of jail time for former officer Jeffrey M. Asher - has suffered from chronic legal problems separate from that case.

Jones was most recently arrested in late July after the mother of his two children told police he punched her, which marked the second time the woman leveled such an accusation against Jones. Among a string of arrests for shoplifting and cocaine trafficking, Jones also was arrested in 2011 for allegedly assaulting the same woman, but the case was dismissed when the alleged victim got cold feet, according to prosecutors.

Jones has been in and out of jail since the traffic stop in 2009, when he was held on bail but later released after related drug charges were dismissed and separate charges against him languished.

In the most recent incident, the alleged victim told police that Jones threw her against the wall and punched her as he came to pick up their two children.

Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said it is not entirely unusual to indict cases in the higher court versus letting them play out in the District Court.

"In some domestic violence cases you see a pattern with the same alleged victim and same alleged perpetrator, and then the victim backs out of the case for whatever reason. That's part of the pattern, too," Mastroianni said, refusing to speak specifically about Jones' case. "When the person is re-victimized it's also part of that pattern and a sign that the domestic violence could escalate."

With his arraignment in Superior Court, Jones' earlier bail revocation was affirmed by Judge Peter A. Velis and a second bail was revoked on the domestic cases.